Earlier, protesters hung a banner from the statue calling for the controversial ICE section of the Department of Homeland Security to be abolished.

Several people who hung a banner from the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal calling for the abolition of the federal government’s chief immigration enforcement agency were arrested before a person scaled the statue’s base, forcing its evacuation.

Several people who hung a banner from the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal calling for the abolition of the federal government’s chief immigration enforcement agency were arrested before a person scaled the statue’s base, forcing its evacuation.

About 100ft from the ground, the climber sat by the bottom edge of the statue’s robes for more than two hours. Police, standing on a ladder and a ledge nearby, tried to talk the climber into descending.

The climber made about a 25-foot ascent from the monument’s observation point, National Park Service spokesman Jerry Willis said. Visitors were forced to leave Liberty Island hours before its normal 6:15pm closing time, he added.